Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Israeli Air Strike on Syria

The most under-reported story in the mainstream news has to be the mysterious Israeli airstrike on Syria. The target was an alleged nuclear joint venture between Syria and North Korea. The details of this story are right out of fiction:

  • A North Korean cargo ship docks in a Syrian port to unload "cement." North Koreans scientists were reportedly at the target site.

  • Then, reportedly, Israeli commandos infiltrated the lab to verify that nuclear weapons research was going on.

  • The Syrians have a very dense air defense network, but no invading planes were shot down (at least know to us).

  • The raiders apparently escaped via Turkey, leaving a fuel tank.

  • What weapons were used? If the facility was indeed underground, perhaps new bunker-busting bombs were tested out?

The US certainly knew about the operation but there hasn't been an official acknowledgment by any government. Why keep it so secret? Is the Bush administration worried about Syria complaining? Perhaps they don't want to upset the apple cart that is the ongoing Nork negotiations.
If this story pans out, it would certainly bolster Bush's warnings about WMD's and would give the IDF some much-needed prestige. As for the Syrians, some of their military leaders have some explaining to do how all that money they spent on Russian SAM's wasn't worth the rubles it was printed on.
I find this story fascinating and can't wait for more information to come out.

Update
Here is more information on the commandos plus some speculation similar to my own on the silence from US and Israeli governments.
More analysis (albeit not very well unattributed) on the Syrian nuke program.

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